The State of Democracy in the Ukraine

1
The State of Democracy in the Ukraine

• An Examination of Civil Society and the Media
• Recep Aktas, Alesha Black, Shawn Mongin, Manmeet
  Mehta

2
Ukraine and the EU

• Economic-EU is Ukraines largest Trading Partner
• Geographic-Ukraine is a bridge country
• Political-Ukraine is a Transitional Government
  that is Progressing toward Democracy

3
Justification

• Objective To advise the EU on the state of
  democracy in Ukraine and make recommendations on
  the role of EU in that process
• Structure Civil Society and Media as indicators
  of democratic health
• Perspectives EU Expansion, Importance of
  Democratization of Eastern bloc states

4
Ukraine Background
5
EU-Ukraine Relations

• Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA),
• European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), new patterns
  in the movement of people, capital, goods and
  services
• The Action Plan would be the main tool for ENP
  implementation
• The EU Supports Ukraines accession to the WTO,
  and has provided technical assistance to this end
• Ukraines EU prospect is Ukraines strategic goal
• Article 49 of the Treaty on the European Union

6
Orange Revolution
7
Orange Revolution

• Direction of Ukraine takes Center stage in 2004
  Presidential Election
• Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych supports
  maintaining ties to Russia, Opposition Candidate
  Viktor Yushchenko promotes expanding relationship
  with EU
• Nov. 24, 2005 Election Board declares Yanukovych
  Presdient by slim margin of victory, Western
  election observers allege wide scale voter fraud.
• Yushchenko supporters protest election results.
  Supporters cloaked in orange scarves peacefully
  lay siege to Government Buildings
• Supreme Court requires new election
• December 26, 2005 Yushchenko wins Presidency

8
Recent Developments

• Sep. 2005 President Yushchenko's chief of staff
  resigns and makes corruption allegations against
  several senior officials.
• Sep. 2005 President Yushchenko dismisses Orange
  Revolution ally Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
  and her entire government.
• Sep. 2005 President Yushchenko and Presidential
  rival, former PM Victor Yanukovych, sign
  cooperation deal.
• Nov. 2005 At the Focus on Eastern Europe
  conference, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline
  Calmy-Rey said Switzerland wants to smooth the
  way for Ukraine's entry into Europe.

9
Media

• Current State
• 2551 Newspapers
• 1374 Magazines
• Internet Boom, 2.18 million internet users
• Media Control
• Violence against Journalists

• Criteria for Media Health
• Freedom House Criteria legal, political,
  economic
• Change in Rating
• Cautious Optimism

10
Recommendations

• Language
• Ownership of media
• Taxes
• Licensure
• Press Law
• NGOs and Watchdogs
• Training

11
Civil Society Democracy

• Edward Gibbon said of the ancient Athenians,
  when the freedom they wished for most was freedom
  from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be
  free."
• Citizen Sector ( The Third Sector)
• Participatory Society
• Free and fair elections
• Increasing the role of education
• Reorienting public administrators towards greater
  citizen involvement
• Expanding research into and conducting regular
  evaluations of the state of civil society itself

12
Mapping Civil Society Post Orange Revolution

• 1 in 5 Ukrainians took part in protests in
  November and December 2004
• Freedom House Ranking From 4.0(1997) to
  3.0(2005)
• Sep 2005, 40,000 NGOs registered
• Changes in the rules of play / concept paper
• Justice Ministrys working group
• NGOs actively defend their rights

13
Mapping Civil Society Post Orange Revolution

• Community councils attached to State
  Administrations
• Independent policy analysis of first 100 days of
  Presidency
• Government NGO Collaborations on Community
  Development
• Foreign funded projects
• EU
• World Bank
• CIDA

14
Civil Society - Recommendations

• Continued engagement with civil society
  organizations non-combative
• Technical Assistance
• Capacity building and training government
  officials
• Models of participation, monitoring and
  assessment
• Human rights based approach to development UN
• Possible issues
• Administrative reforms in system of institutions
  of public governance
• Judicial reform
• Policy making procedures

15
Recommendations

• Broad Recommendations
• The Big Picture